The problems of poverty and the African Development crisis have brought issues related to foreign aid in promoting development to the center of the development discussion. Although aid ineffectiveness in Africa is clearly linked to the particularly difficult environment of the region and the faulty policies and weak institutions common in many African countries, donors’ agencies must bear much of the responsibility for its success and failure. The poor performance of aid in Africa also lies with the donors of that aid. Donor agencies do decide not only which countries receive the aid and how much they receive, but they typically determine how aid is to be distributed. They often manage the implementation of aid projects directly or indirectly through management of consultants or NGOs that implement projects. For too long, aid agencies have made allocative and policy decisions on commercial, foreign policy, religious or cultural grounds, as opposed to developmental grounds. Aid effectiveness in developing countries and especially in Africa requires fundamental changes not only in the policies and institutions of African governments but in those of donor countries as well, if development aid is to make the positive contribution to the poor or disadvantaged people that both Africans and their external partners hope for and expect.

The IIJD Development Program advocates reorienting international development efforts away from subsistence relief measures, which often filter through corrupt and unaccountable governments, toward sustainable initiatives for meaningful reform that incorporate the will of the people. To this effect, we emphasize institutional reform and capacity-building at the community-based or grassroots level. The Development Program has three interdependent components (the Election and Political Process Reform Initiative, the Legislative Reform Initiative, and the Civil Society Strengthening and Citizen Participation Initiative) working to improve local quality of life to allow for creative of a vibrant civil society and effective development solutions.

The IIJD promotes these program goals in various ways; please click the tab on the left to link to descriptions of some of the current IIJD's projects.